Report of the Committee on Elections in the Contested Election Case of Thomas A. Spence, Vs; John R. Franklin (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Report of the Committee on Elections in the Contested Election Case of Thomas A. Spence, Vs; John R. Franklin In the decision of the Court of Appeals in the case of Anderson us. The Registrars of the Fourth District of Mont gomery County, we have a clear, direct and positive construc tion of the character and extent of the powers and authority of the Officers Of Registration: that they have exclusive jurisdiction and power to determine finally and in full all questions as to qualifications. The question of qualification before the Officers of Registration upon the application of Mr. Franklin was, Is Mr. Franklin loyal or-disloyal under the fourth section of the first article of the Constitution? And their decision and judgment was, he is disloyal. The record of that judgment is now in evidence before us. In the face of this evidence to question or to doubt the exist ence of the fact of disloyalty which must disqualify Mr. Franklin, would be not only to disregard the law as con strued and laid down by the Court of Appeals, - that the determination of the Officers of Registration is final and con elusive, but to disregard the rule of evidence well settled, and so clearly and distinctly stated by Judge Story in the case of Allen us. Blunt (3 Story, 745) in the following terms In short it may be laid down as a general rule, that when a particular authority is confided to a public Officer to be exer cised by him in his discretion upon an examination of parts, of which he is made the appropriate judge, his decision upon these facts, in the absence of any controlling provrsmns, is absolutely conclusive as to the existence of those facts and further, for this Committee not to regard the determination and decision of this fact by the Officers of Registration as final and conclusive, would be willful disobedience to the instructions of the House. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.